On the subject of external tanks I have to relate a story from my "down route" experiences, which might raise a chuckle or two. I might say it's an honour to follow a distinguished former Flt Eng on the posting roster.
An Engineer Told me .......
In the words of the famous song, without his death being involved, I remember a route that with a very well behaved Albert, allowed me plenty of time to join the operators at the party room for a beer or three. The Flt Eng on the trip was an affable chap, and enjoyed the opportunity to "educate" me (a mere ground crew representative) in the skills and knowledge he had of aerodynamics, airframe design and performance issues. So, on one such evening our conversation (nay, lecture) got round to external tanks on Albert. I have always viewed the external tank as a tube, given some aerodynamic profile it would always at best, only generate profile and skin friction drag, and be a net detraction from the performance of the aircraft. But no, says my Eng, in full thrust after several wind down beers, the C130K external tanks are designed, at cruise speed, to generate the equivilant lift of the fuel they contain
which means that the tanks empty generate oodles of extra lift and allow the aircraft to happily lift extra cargo. Well, how could I, a mere GE (of basic Airframe trade) having done only enough to know half rho V squared S, argue with such a proposition. I decided to opt for a second "wind down beer" and wish the Eng a swift recovery from his delusional state. Now, anyone have experience of lifting extra weight due to having the externals fitted and empty ?
Smudge
